Peer-Reviewed Paper JMM: The Journal of Music and Meaning, vol. 12, 2013/2014 Space as Reference: Representations of Space in Electroacoustic Music Dr Frederico Macedo, University of the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil Abstract This article discusses in detail the use of spatial references in electroacoustic music, which is the fourth of the five senses of space I identified in a broader investigation on the meaning of space in music, electroacoustic music and sound art. The expression space as reference refers to the use of the referential properties of sound to suggest or produce spatial impressions and associations. I start discussing the controversies related to the use of referential meaning in music, and how, since the development of electroacoustic music, it has become a crucial aspect in the characterization and definition of its different branches and aesthetic orientations. Then I discuss how a number of composers of electroacoustic music have conceptualized and worked with reference in their compositional practice. In the next section I discuss how soundscape composition has been working with spatial reference as a central aspect of its aesthetic principles. Afterwards, I expose how representation has been used as a structural element in the works Night Song I and Night Song II, and how these works can be characterized in terms of the terminology suggested by the aforementioned composers. In the conclusion, I discuss how the categories of abstraction and representation can be understood as relative and complimentary concepts, suggesting that, for the composer, it would be interesting to keep both aspects in mind, as both of them are relevant for the reception of their compositional work. 63 Peer-Reviewed Paper JMM: The Journal of Music and Meaning, vol. 12, 2013/2014 1. Introduction: Five Senses of Space and the Role of Representation in the Arts In a broader investigation on the meaning of space in music and sound art1, five different uses of space have been identified in association with sound and music: [1] space as metaphor, [2] space as resonance, [3] space as sound spatialisation, [4] space as reference and [5] space as location. Space as metaphor consists in the use spatial images and metaphors to describe abstract concepts or perceptual experiences related to sound and music. Examples are the use of spatial concepts for the description of aspects of music not necessarily related to their spatial properties, such as structure, materials, form, and the notions of high and low related to pitch. Spatial concepts suggested by music writers such as sonic space, noise-colouration space and timbre-space (Wishart 1998); tonal pitch space (Lerdahl 1987) and spectral space (Smalley 1986 1997) also fall within the category of space as metaphor, as they do not refer to the actual perception of the spatial properties of sound, but to specific aspects of music, such as the compositional properties of sound, perception of pitch in tonal music and the perception of sound in electroacoustic music, respectively. Space as resonance is related to the acoustic effects of the environment on sound, produced by phenomena such as sound reflection, diffraction, resonance, acoustic shadows and reverberation. The reverberation of music performance spaces has influenced the characteristics of the music performed in them since ancient times (Blesser and Salter, 2007: p. 92), being also a fundamental aspect of recorded and electroacoustic music (Smalley 2007). The acoustic effects of the environment on sound have been explored by a number of composers of experimental and electroacoustic music – among them Alvin Lucier, Barry Truax, Pauline Oliveros, Denis Smalley and George Crumb – and also by sound artists – Michael Asher, Michael Brewster, Maryanne Amacher and Edwin van der Heide, among others (LaBelle 2006). Space as sound spatialisation is related to the surroundability of the auditory field and the ability of the auditory system to perceive distance, direction and motion of sound. Since the 1950s a number of composers – among them Pierre Schaeffer, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, Iannis Xenakis, Henry Brant and John Chowning 1 Undertook under the sponsorship of Lancaster University, ORSAS Award and Peel Studentship during my PhD studies at Lancaster University (2008-2012). 64 Peer-Reviewed Paper JMM: The Journal of Music and Meaning, vol. 12, 2013/2014 – started to explore the perceptions of distance, direction and motion of sound as structural elements in their works, giving rise to the concept of spatial music (Harley, 1993: p. 128). Also, since the early 1970s, a number of sound artists – such as Howard Jones and Bernard Leitner – started to explore these same features in works of sound installation and sound sculpture (LaBelle 2006). Space as reference is related to the ability of the auditory system to recognize sound sources. It refers to the power of sound to recall the experience of different places through the use of the referential properties of sound and will be the main subject of this article. The fifth and last sense of space in music and sound art, space as location, is related to a broader sense of space, with all its social, cultural, historical and environmental implications. This sense of location is produced by the global perception of space produced by the information provided by all sensory channels. A number of composers of experimental music – especially John Cage and his followers – and sound artists – Maryanne Amacher and Bill Fontana, among others – have also worked with this global sense of space in their works. In most cases the works that explore space as location create a sense of dislocation by playing, in a given place, sounds which are not normally heard in that place. This creates a sense o dislocation in the viewer/listener, produced by the contradictory spatial impressions produced, on the one hand, by the sound, and, on the other hand, by the actual presence of the listener/viewer in a real place which does not correspond to the spatial impressions produced by the sound. Representation has been a key subject in the aesthetics and philosophy of the arts, and a fundamental concern in a number of important debates in the field, such as the definition and classification of the arts, the characterization of its genres and sub-genres, and the process of reception. The subject has often been discussed in terms of the opposition between abstraction and representation. In this sense, abstraction is present when the work supposedly does not refer to anything external to itself, and has as its main characteristic the interplay of the purely perceptual qualities of the matter, or, in Dufrenne’s terminology, the sensuous (Dufrenne, 1973: p. xxiv). Representation is present when “the sensuous quality of matter becomes a sign” (Dufrenne, 1973: p. 311). By becoming a sign, the work of art points to something other than itself – a real, legendary, mythic or imaginary being or object, an idea or a concept. As Dufrenne 65 Peer-Reviewed Paper JMM: The Journal of Music and Meaning, vol. 12, 2013/2014 (1973) points out, “what characterizes representation [...] [is] an appeal to concepts. The represented object is an identifiable object which demands recognition and which expects an unending analysis on the part of reflection”. (p. 312) The function of representation varies in different artistic modalities, having been used by Souriau as the foundation for his classification of the arts, according to which the visual arts – painting and sculpture – are representational, while decorative arts, architecture and music are non-representational (Dufrenne, 1973: pp. 311-312). Although these notions may be no longer valid in the context of the contemporary arts, they are present in the conceptions of music as a pure and abstract art, and in the representational character of most pre-modernist painting and sculpture. Since the advent of modernism, however, and even before, these notions have been challenged both in theoretical and practical terms by different artists and musicians. On the one hand, abstract artists such as Kandinsky, regarding music as the prototype of non- representational art, have used musical metaphors – rhythm, harmony and melody, among others – to describe their work (Dufrenne, 1973: pp. 247-300), using also music as source of inspiration and model for their abstract conceptions of painting (Welten, 2009). On the other hand, musical modernism brought to the fore the representational aspect of sound. As Weiss (2008) points out, “modernism brought a new theoretical and practical dimension to the role of the anecdotal (if not quite the programmatic) as a mode of referentiality, placing an increasing strain on the supposed abstraction and self- referentiality of the musical system”. (p. 74) The development of the technologies of photography and sound recording also had an important effect on the meaning of representation in visual arts and music, bringing to the fore the features that used to be regarded as non-essential aspects for their their definition, and challenging further the conceptions of music as a non- representational art and the visual arts as representational arts. As Wishart (1998) points out: The impact of technology on music and painting has been in opposite directions: the tape recorder has introduced the representational more easily into music, while the camera has tended to replace the figurative role of painting and allow painting to pursue the non-figurative domain. (p. 134) 66 Peer-Reviewed Paper JMM: The Journal of Music and Meaning, vol. 12, 2013/2014 The development of the technologies of recording, and, later, synthesis and artificial manipulation of sound, have been the basis of the development of electroacoustic music. By making the function of representation more evident, music technology brought to the fore, in an unprecedented way, the possibilities of using representation as a structural element in composition. Representations of space have become, then, one of the most interesting and important subjects and practices in electroacoustic music.